Restaurant review: What did I think of Dings Chinese in Dingwall?

I love dining out as much as the next person, but sometimes, you just can’t beat a takeaway.

My parents had been up visiting for the weekend so my boyfriend Aidan and I were knackered after exercising our best hosting skills.

I will pretend to be unsure as to who suggested the idea of getting a takeaway last Sunday night – it was me – but it was agreed on pretty quickly. I remembered a colleague in the office mentioning that Ding’s Chinese Restaurant & Takeaway in Dingwall had recently won Takeaway & Home Delivery of the Year at the Scottish Asian Food Awards.

That was decision made.

CR0046975 Alberto, Inverness Neil and Lily Aquino with on the right Ben Chan in their 'Dings' Chinese restaurant and take away in Dingwall after winning Oriental TAkeaway of the year for the North of Scotland and the overall award for Scotland. 15th February '24 Sandy McCook/DC Thomson — Dings Takeaway in Dingwall has been named the best one in Scotland. Picture shows owners Neil and Lily Aquino with chef Ben Chan (right) outside the premises. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

Dings Chinese in Dingwall

Dings offers delivery but we didn’t want to ask them to drive as far as Inverness so we opted for collection. It’s just over a 20-minute drive from our house to Dingwall, which we didn’t mind for the promise of a great meal. Perfect timing too, as that’s the amount of time the lovely woman who took my order over the phone told me it would take for them to prepare our feast.

We stuck with our favourite dishes. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

There is a restaurant section to Dings if you fancy eating in but it is open different days and times throughout the year, so it’s best to call ahead or check their Facebook page to keep up-to-date with the latest.

When I arrived to collect our order, it was ready and waiting, so I hopped straight back in the car and back home before it got cold.

The food

The smell in the car on the way home had both our mouths watering. A very important thing to note before even getting into the food was that it was very well packaged up. There were no spillages in sight, and even our saucier dishes were perfectly contained.

While I am all for being adventurous, I wanted to stick to my tried and tested dishes for our first visit to Dings so I had something to compare it to.

The ribs were deliciously succulent. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

For starters, we chose salt and pepper spare ribs (£7) and chicken satay on skewers (£6.80), both absolute staples in our house. The ribs were without a doubt some of the best I have ever tasted. I have found this particular dish tends to be a little dry and you can often get cheated with very little meat on the bones, but these were the total opposite. Every rib was covered in tender meat, which was still juicy and packed full of flavour. There was a good amount of heat which lingered on the lips too.

The satay sauce was impressive. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

The satay skewers were also impressive. The sauce was a great consistency, not too thick, and full of punchy peanut flavour. It was a good level of both sweet and salty and the chicken itself was cooked well.

Kung Po chicken (£8.10) is always my go-to main, and I was glad to see you could add a side of egg fried rice for only 70p. I was thrilled when I opened the box to see it was absolutely loaded with cashew nuts, something a lot of other takeaways scrimp on when it comes to this dish. The chicken had obviously been freshly cooked which I really appreciated and the sauce was silky smooth and not too sweet.

There were plenty of cashews on my Kung Po chicken. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

Aidan’s order is perhaps even more mainstream than mine, as he always goes for sweet and sour chicken in batter (£8.10). He said the batter hadn’t given into the sauce and gone soggy, instead staying nice and crispy but still light. There was a good ratio of vegetables to meat and the sauce wasn’t too thick with a delicate balance of flavours that made it one of the best he has had.

You can’t go wrong with sweet and sour chicken. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

We also have a weakness for salt and chilli chips (£5), so were very pleased with the huge box we found in our bag. The chips themselves were chunky, fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. They were covered in spicy seasoning and we couldn’t stop going back for more.

I can vouch for the food making for delicious leftovers too as I stowed some of it away for lunch the next day.

We couldn’t stop eating the salt and chilli chips. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

The verdict

We were seriously impressed with everything we tried from Dings Chinese in Dingwall, and Aidan isn’t even usually a fan of a Chinese takeaway. It didn’t feel like things had been made in huge batches and left sitting, but instead that each dish had been made with care to order, like in a restaurant.

The portions were great for the price and the huge array of dishes on the menu means anyone would struggle not to find something they fancied.

We will definitely be ordering again, ideally with a big group of friends so we can try lots of different dishes.